The Avett Brothers

Live, Volume 3 (American/Columbia)

By Amanda Stovall
Published: October 13th, 2010 | 7:00am

It seems a little unfair to give high marks to an album that features a collection of already acclaimed songs compiled from a live show in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s like the band is double-dipping, but to have more excuses to listen to the Avett Brothers, let them double-dip as many times as they want. The resurgence in mass popularity for bluegrass-inspired banjo ballads was set in motion by the Coen brothers’ brilliant taste in soundtrack selections for the 2001 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the wheels of interest have kept spinning thanks to artists like the Avett Brothers, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, and Monsters of Folk.

Live, Volume 3 features favorite tracks from albums like I and Love and You (American) and Emotionalism (Ramseur Records), all sung with a renewed enthusiasm and spirit that can only be described in the most technical of terms a “hoozah” quality in songs like “Colorshow” and “Kick Drum Heart.” The ability of Scott and Seth Avett to consistently play off each other in both harmony and banter are the distinguishing features of listening to this live compilation over studio albums, made especially enjoyable by the high quality of the recording, the sounds of the crowd adds footnotes to the music rather than overwhelming and distracting static. Even the mistakes of the band, like a forgotten lyric in “The Ballad of Love and Hate,” make them more charming, and the successful second attempt makes a beautiful fable even more personable and lovely.

Don’t worry about being moved to tears, though, as the Avett Brothers easily bring laughs to their equally enthusiastic audience through scattered asides and interjections, including “And everyone they have a heart / And when they break and fall apart / They need somebody’s helping hand (don’t say they don’t!)” on their rendition of “Shame.” The live acoustics amplify the tonal quality of acoustic guitar strings and echo harmonies, adding dramatic emphasis to honest and introspective lines that characterize the band’s songwriting style. Other tracks receive updated lyrics, like “make sure my daughter knows I loved her / And make sure her mother knows the same” on “Murder in the City,” and all songs retain their signature morals, found in repeated lines like “always remember there is nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name.”

Whether an avid fan or not yet part of the Avett Nation, this album could very well change opinions of live recordings and/or ragtime bluegrass funk rock.

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The Avett Brothers official Web site

The Avett Brothers MySpace page

Columbia Records